


Jonny Vangelis, Professional Damsel in Distress

by KersPastei



Series: MCU (Mechanisms Cinematic Universe) [4]
Category: The Mechanisms (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Minor Violence, Multi, they'll all be in here but i'm tagging them as they show up
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-19
Updated: 2020-08-29
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:19:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25387420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KersPastei/pseuds/KersPastei
Summary: It's really not Jonny's fault that he keeps getting caught in supervillain attacks while out of costume, even though it seems to happen far more frequently than it should. At least none of the Mechanisms seem to have caught on so far that they're rescuing their teammate, and he'd like to keep it that way.
Relationships: Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Series: MCU (Mechanisms Cinematic Universe) [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1797709
Comments: 41
Kudos: 205





	1. Gunpowder

People tend to assume that because d’Ville gets visions of the future, nothing ever catches him off guard. 

Jonny has a lot to say about this assumption, starting with the fact that anyone who makes it is a raging idiot and should stop talking to him immediately and ending with the fact that they’re not _visions_ , they’re _hunches_. He is, in fact, caught off guard by things all the time, as can be proven by the fact that he is currently trudging across town in a pouring rainstorm with no umbrella or even a hooded coat to keep him dry. 

“Oh, Jonny, won’t you pop down to the store and buy us some bread?” he mumbles mockingly under his breath. “It wouldn’t take half an hour for me to do it but I’m Tim and I won’t buy my own bread even though I used up the last of it because I’m an _asshole_.”

Luckily, there’s no one around to hear him grumbling to himself. Most people are too sensible to be out in weather like this for a single second longer than they have to, so the streets are nearly deserted aside from the occasional car. 

Of _course_ the rain would start when he's just far enough away from the house that he can’t really justify turning around without making it to the store. He’s absolutely soaked to the bone anyway; might as well get some groceries out of the whole stupid ordeal. Maybe if he’s lucky he can wait out the storm in the store, or call someone for a ride once he’s done shopping. 

Head down in an attempt to keep the rain out of his eyes, he stomps through a puddle without slowing down, ignoring the water that splashes up his boots and soaks the bottom of his pants. His clothes are already absolutely saturated with rain; a little more can’t possibly make him more uncomfortable than he already is. Somewhere behind him, he hears a car screech to a stop and honk irritably, the sound halfway drowned out by a low rumble of thunder so drawn out it almost sounds like a growl. 

Actually, that thunder has been going on for a while now, and it sounds a _lot_ like a growl. In fact, Jonny would almost dare say it _was_ a growl. 

Slowly, he turns around, raising a hand over his eyes to block out the rain so he can actually see more than a foot away. Standing in the middle of the road and completely blocking traffic is a mountain of fur that looks something like a cross between a wolf and a goat, if wolves and goats were roughly the size of a pickup truck and in the habit of walking around on their hind legs. It’s not difficult to recognize as one of Minos’ chimeras; even if Jonny wasn’t facing off against them on a semi-monthly basis, they’re on the news often enough that nearly everyone in Labyrinth knows what they look like. 

Jonny is also familiar enough with the chimeras to know that he’s standing far too close - several blocks away is generally the preferred distance for anyone without a weapon, and he is currently completely unarmed. 

Well, as unarmed as he ever gets; as long as he has his voice, Jonny is never completely defenseless. But he can’t use it now, unless he wants to out himself as d’Ville to everyone who watches whatever videos of this attack will undoubtedly get posted as soon as it’s over.

The chimera’s presence in the middle of the road is causing somewhat of a traffic jam, and several drivers have resorted to abandoning their cars in favor of running for the nearest building on foot. The resulting chaos seems to be confusing the creature; it swings its shaggy head back and forth, growling, but can’t seem to decide who to attack first. Unfortunately, it makes up its mind quickly, fixing its beady red eyes on Jonny and opening its mouth in a roar that shows off every one of its sharp teeth. 

_Fuck,_ Jonny thinks eloquently, followed by, _At least it’s not after a civilian._

And then he doesn’t have time to think anything else, because several hundred pounds of furry monster charging at him doesn’t leave room in his head for anything except the urge to _run._ Boots skidding against the wet concrete of the sidewalk, Jonny turns and does just that. 

This part of the street is mostly small businesses, meaning there’s very likely an unlocked door he could run for, but like _hell_ is he leading this thing into an enclosed space full of civilians. He may be an asshole, but he’s not that heartless. Chimeras are strong and vicious, but they’re also completely single minded and not too bright; even if he finds a space too small for it to follow, there’s a good chance it’ll bring the building down on his head trying to reach him. 

If he can keep ahead of the chimera a little longer, maybe he can lead it somewhere out of view of the crowd and deal with it there - but that would require him to stay out of its reach for at least another minute or two, and he’s honestly not sure he can manage that. Jonny is as fit and light on his feet as anyone who spends half their evenings chasing supervillains up and down the city would be, but he’s not _Nastya_ , and a quick glance over his shoulder confirms that the chimera’s long legs are eating up the distance between them at a frightening speed. 

A sudden instinct urges him to turn left and Jonny doesn’t bother to question it, flinging himself into what turns out to be a narrow walkway between two buildings and almost running straight into a familiar figure in a long brown coat. Immediately, there’s a gun pointed at his chest, but it snaps away just as quickly as its owner takes in his appearance. Instead, Gunpowder reaches out to snag Jonny’s sleeve, tugging him out of the line of fire and away from the main street. 

“Get behind me,” Gunpowder orders curtly. Then, in a friendlier tone, he adds, “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, but the chimera’s right behind me,” Jonny replies, gesturing to where the chimera is pacing to a stop just outside the alley they’re in. 

Gunpowder nods, and steps forward to line up a shot. “I’ve got it, just make sure you’re out of the way in case it tries to attack.”

So far, the chimera hasn’t made any move toward them; Jonny’s sudden disappearance seems to have confused the creature. It tilts its head back and forth, nose and ears twitching busily, but somehow doesn’t seem to spot the walkway a few feet away. Suddenly, it perks up as something else catches its attention back in the direction he came from and nope, Jonny is _not_ letting that happen. 

“Hey! Over here, you ugly fucker!” Maybe Jonny puts a little of his power into his voice to make sure the chimera can’t ignore it, but it’s not like anyone could prove it. 

Gunpowder swears as the chimera wheels back toward them, its eyes locking onto Jonny as if drawn by a magnet. “Can you _please_ try a little harder not to get yourself killed?” he snaps, throwing a brief glance over his shoulder before focusing his gaze back on the chimera. 

The chimera is having trouble with the overhang of one of the buildings, which is just low enough to clip the thing’s horns when it tries to come charging into the alley. It only slows it down for a second, but that’s enough time for Gunpowder to fire off several shots into its skull. He’s clearly not bothering with tranquilizers - chimeras are, on a weird technicality, classified as an invasive species and are therefore illegal to catch and release - and the chimera goes down in a spray of sickly green blood. 

As soon as he’s sure it’s dead, Gunpowder dismisses the chimera completely in favor of whirling around to look at Jonny. “ _Why_ did you do that?”

“Why - it was about to go after somebody else!” 

“And then I would have chased it! There was no reason for you to put yourself in danger.”

Jonny opens his mouth to argue, and then remembers just in time that Gunpowder isn’t seeing d’Ville, his fellow Mechanism; he’s scolding Jonny Vangelis, a random civilian who got caught in an attack completely by chance and has no business trying to attract a rampaging monster. 

“You were there,” he says instead after a moment of hesitation. “Figured I would be alright with a Mech guarding me.”

That startles a smile out of Gunpowder - a small one, but visible nonetheless. “Well, I- I suppose there wasn’t any harm done, in the end.” He clears his throat and gestures toward the slumped form of the chimera. “I’ve got to call this in, but after that I could walk you to wherever it is you’re going? If you want, that is.”

“I hardly think I’m going to get caught in another villain attack in the next 30 minutes,” Jonny says. 

“Probably not,” Gunpowder admits. “But you did help out a little, even if it _was_ a stupid move, and I’d like to return the favor.”

Part of Jonny wants to say yes. For all that they argue and snipe at each other, he likes being around Gunpowder. But again, there’s the issue of Jonny being a civilian right now, and he worries that spending too much time together might end with him slipping and revealing that he’s not as much of a stranger as the other hero thinks. 

“Thanks, but I really will be fine.”

Gunpowder nods. “Alright then. I’d say I’ll see you around, but let’s try to avoid any more situations like this in the future, yeah?”

“I’ll do my best,” Jonny says, and steps past him onto the main street. 


	2. Icarus

Jonny has no idea what the construction outside the mall is for, but he’s quickly becoming completely fed up with it. It began a couple weeks ago - no warning, just a sudden roadblock on the most direct route back to the house and a whole lot of noise. Whenever he steps outside, he can hardly hear himself think for the sound of machinery, and the amount of dust in the air keeps triggering sneezing fits whenever he tries to breathe.

Folding his arms, Jonny glares up at the crane visible above the barriers hiding the construction site as if it’s personally offended him. Which, as far as he’s concerned, it has. Nastya is already 15 minutes late to pick him up, and according to her last text the traffic caused by the construction blocking the road means she’ll be at least another 10 minutes if they’re lucky. Which leaves him stuck here, watching people walk in and out of the mall’s side entrance, when all he really wants is to lay down on his bed and impersonate a vegetable for the next hour. At least the construction seems to have stopped for now, so he doesn’t have to put up with the sound of that on top of everything else.

He fights back a sneeze and pulls out his phone, vainly hoping that he’d somehow missed another message from Nastya. But there’s nothing, and no messages from anyone else to distract himself with either. Apparently, every one of his roommates had suddenly become extremely busy as soon as his shift ended. 

“Excuse me!” 

Jonny looks around, trying to figure out who shouted, but everyone he can see nearby is either looking around in similar confusion or steadfastly ignoring everything around them.

“Excuse me! I need you all to listen, it’s very important!”

Finally, a thought occurs to him, and he tips his head back to see a woman crouching on top of the raised arm of an excavator just inside the tarp separating the construction site from the mall’s parking lot. Her wings are spread wide for balance and her hands are cupped around her mouth to amplify her voice, and she sparkles like gold in the late-afternoon sun.

“If you all could just clear the area as quickly and calmly as possible, I would greatly appreciate-” Icarus cuts off with a shout of surprise as the excavator she’s crouched on suddenly shudders to life, arm jerking sharply to throw her off. 

She staggers and falls briefly out of view behind the barrier before reappearing with a flap of her wings that propels her up and out of the way of the excavator. 

More of the equipment is starting to turn on, the sound of their engines threatening to drown out the confused chattering of the crowd around Jonny. Some of them are taking Icarus’ advice, grabbing children and shopping bags and hustling back into the mall or taking off in the direction of their cars. Others are crowding closer to the construction site, pulling out their phones and pointing them at Icarus, because asking the average Labyrinth resident to have common sense in the face of a villain attack is like asking a fish to dance a waltz. Icarus seems to realize this as well; after one more attempt at a warning, she throws up her hands and swoops away to circle over the construction site, apparently looking for something. 

Meanwhile, Jonny rolls his eyes and plants his feet to avoid being swept up in the crowd. He shifts his bag around and reaches in to make sure his costume is easily accessible, glancing around as he does to figure out the best spot for a quick change. His blind rooting around doesn’t yield any results, and he looks down with a frown to find the bag half empty. 

_Shit_ , that’s right, he’d taken it out of his bag last night so he could repair it after a fight with a Rose Red left a nasty tear through the back of his shirt and vest, and he must have forgotten to put it back in. No wonder his bag felt so light on his way to work. 

Well, there goes his plan to run crowd control and keep the idiots around him from getting hurt trying to film Icarus. They _probably_ wouldn’t notice if he compelled them to back off - Siren is, by nature, hard to notice - but all it would take is one person with an immunity power and Jonny would be busted for illegal ability use. Which he’d rather avoid, because any kind of scrutiny is bad news to someone with a secret identity. 

So that leaves the old fashioned way: just yell at everyone and hope he sounds authoritative enough for them to listen without leaning on his identity as a well-known superhero. He starts shoving his way through the crowd of sightseers to get to a clearer area near the front. It’s a difficult task, since _everyone_ is jostling for a good viewpoint and no one’s eager to give up their spot once they have it, but it’s made easier by the fact that Jonny has absolutely no qualms about elbowing people or kicking them in the ankles if they don’t move out of the way fast enough for his taste. A few annoyed voices follow him, but he pays them no mind. 

Once he reaches an open space, he spins around on his heel and takes a breath to start yelling - only to be cut off by a crackle of static loud enough to make his teeth hurt. He clamps his hands over his ears and hisses through his teeth, instinctively reaching out to lower the static’s volume. It’s all coming from the direction of the construction site, like every vehicle’s radio was turned on to a random station and set to top volume at the same time. 

Jonny knows that signature, and his suspicions are confirmed when the static dies down and is replaced by a calm electronic voice. “Don’t bother, Icarus. You know I’m not here either.”

Why Red Hood has taken issue with this construction site in particular, Jonny has no idea, but he does know she’s right about one thing; with her abilities she could be anywhere in the city, and if she hasn’t shown herself by now she most likely isn’t planning to do so at all. 

“So, what will it be? Are you going to keep chasing shadows all day, or will you deal with the mess here?” 

Not the construction site, then; this is the latest part of an ongoing conflict, apparently. Jonny really should start checking the news when he leaves work. 

“Your mess won’t be an issue when I find you,” Icarus shouts back. “We’ll see how brave you are without a screen to hide behind.”

The electronic voice is completely toneless, but Red Hood somehow still manages to convey a sense of condescending amusement as she says, “Good luck with that.”

There’s a loud _crash_ from the construction site, and someone in the crowd screams. Icarus is shouting again, ordering people to back away in between startled yelps at whatever Red Hood’s machines are doing, and this time a good number of people listen to her and start hurrying away from the construction site. Jonny makes aggressive shooing motions at a few of the nearest stragglers, finally grabbing one man by the arm and shoving him bodily away from the scene of the fight when he proves to be either too startled or too stubborn to move. 

Jonny doesn’t know exactly what Red Hood is planning, but he’s seen enough of her work to know that when she says she’s going to make a mess, she means it, and she has access to a _lot_ of heavy equipment right now. Icarus is fast and nimble enough to avoid most attacks, but the rest of the squishy people in the crowd needed to move out of range as soon as possible. Red Hood rarely goes out of her way to hurt random bystanders, but she certainly doesn’t try hard to avoid it either, especially when she needs a distraction.

Another crash sounds, much closer, and Jonny decides that this might be a good time for him to leave the area too. He turns, breaks into a jog - and then his feet are quite abruptly not touching the ground anymore as something snatches him out from under a falling piece of metal.

Jonny curses, startled, and instinctively squirms and tries to elbow whoever’s holding him before his mind catches up with the sight of a bird-like masquerade mask looking down at him. 

Icarus smiles, adjusting her grip slightly so he’s sitting more securely in her arms. The afternoon light glints off her mask and hair, forming a bright halo around her face. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. Are you alright?”

“Uh,” Jonny says, intelligently. Most of his mind is currently taken up by the fact that Icarus doesn’t seem to be straining at all as she carries him, hovering in place a few yards above the parking lot as easily as if she was strolling along the beach. “Fine. It’s - fine, I’m fine.” 

Below them, he can see the construction site. The equipment, moving with the unnatural speed and precision all of Red Hood’s hacked vehicles seem to share, appears to be doing its best to thoroughly wreck whatever building was being constructed, scattering debris like the piece that had almost hit him. 

The sight triggers a memory, and Jonny pounces on it to distract himself from how warm his face has felt since he realized who was holding him. “Where’s her transmitter?”

“What?” 

“It’ll be on one of the vehicles, it’s how she sends her commands if she’s not nearby.” Icarus tilts her head at him and he quickly adds, “I saw it on the news once.”

“Oh, you’re right! I forgot about that; it’s been a while since any of us had to deal with Red Hood. Thank you!” She beams, and Jonny quickly turns his head and pretends to focus on watching the chaos at the construction site.

Most of the machinery quickly disappears from view behind the barrier as Icarus swoops down toward the parking lot and sets Jonny gently back on his feet.

“You’ll be okay from here, right?” she asks.

“I’m fine,” Jonny assures her. “My sister will be here any moment.”

“Wonderful! Sorry to rush off, but I have to deal with this before _everything_ gets broken.” Giving him one more quick smile, Icarus propels herself into the sky with a powerful flap of her wings and swoops back toward the construction site.

Jonny stares after her for several seconds, until a buzz from his pocket breaks him out of his thoughts. He pulls out his phone to see a notification from Nastya.

_Computer Fucker: Here_

_Computer Fucker: How does this keep happening to you_


End file.
